Time of Death (Completed)
by FoxCallahan
Summary: A kind act by Carter ends in tragedy.
1. Chapter 1

PG-13 for language (sort of) and violence. I am not a doctor, so let's just get that out of the way. Feel free to correct me on medical stuff for future reference!

Time of Death

Fox Callahan

When Carter signed up to tutor pre-med students at the local community college, this is not how he thought their first session would end.

Nobody noticed the gunman until they heard the first shot. Then everybody noticed him.

A tall, wiry man, a boy really, barely over 17, stood before them, a handgun in his shaking hand, and a semi-automatic slung over his shoulder. "Everybody on… on th- the ground!" The young man stuttered, clearly overwhelmed with the scope of what he had just done. There was no going back now.

After a moment of shocked silence, someone in the library screamed. "I said, get on the floor, NOW!" People dropped like flies. The sounds of gunfire peppered the air with the sick thud of bodies hitting the floor.

Carter glanced around him at the stunned faces of the students at his study table. It was up to him to keep them safe. The table was in a corner, slightly out of view of the gunman. "Alright, everyone" Carter whispered, "Crawl behind those shelves - very quietly." Trusting his authoritative tone, they immediately began following his orders. Carter crawled silently to the floor, lying flat on his stomach, he began to crawl toward the sound of gunfire, trying to get a better view of the gunman, and see if there was anything he could do for the victims.

He swore under his breath at what he saw. Several students along with teachers lay on the ground, blood pooling beneath them silently. Some were obviously dead, while other twitched gently, suffering from more superficial wounds.

Then he saw him. _$#!t_. Before he could even move the gunman was practically on top of him. "What do you think you're doing? Trying to escape?" Before Carter could respond he pulled the trigger.

He felt the impact before he heard the shot. Crying out he rolled over, writhing from the pain. "Shut up, shut up!" Another shot. Carter went still. The gunman aimed a savage kick at his torso. When the impact elicited no response, he jogged off, satisfied with his work.

Carter panted with the effort of holding in his screams of pain. The gunman had walked around the corner, and Carter could hear the terrified yells of students in the next room. Knowing he couldn't help them, he summoned the little strength he has left and dragged his unwilling body underneath a desk a few feet away, hoping it might provide some kind of protection if the gunman returned.

The short jouney felt like miles to Carter's weakened body. Once he was safely tucked underneath the desk, Carter's years of med school kicked in, and he assessed his injuries. The fact that he was no longer in pain was decidedly a bad sign. One bullet wound to the upper torso, one to the lower left flank. Judging from the trouble he was having breathing, his lung was punctured, and both wounds were oozing dark rich blood.

Dark spots danced at the corners of his eyes, and he knew he didn't have much longer before he lost consciousness. Knowing what he needed to do, Carter roughly held the edge of his once white shirt against the stomach wound, and then carefully pressed his finger into the wound in his chest, sucking in a breath as he did so.

Suddenly an absurdly loud bang shook him from his stupor. _Flashbang._ He thought absently, just before the darkness consumed him.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own any of these characters, don't sue me.

When Carol Hathaway agreed to go on a ride along with Shep, she didn't expect to end up here, standing just outside the haphazard barrier set up by campus security. Carol watched the police officers slowly approach the building.

The smoke from the flashbang thrown into the library seconds earlier was already dissipating, revealing the gunman standing with his gun pointing into the crowd, obviously dazed but with a look of determination on his young face. Then he fell, downed by numerous shots fired from the guns of the law enforcement officers.

Leaving the dead boy, two officers ran into the building - a few seconds later Carol heard the yell; "CLEAR!" and watched two other officers enter the building, ushering her and Shep, along with three other EMT teams into the building.

$#!t. There was blood everywhere.

The next few minutes were a blur. Carol ran to each of the prone figures, checking pulses and shouting instructions to the other techs, who rushed behind her to try to stabilize who they could.

"Where are those other units?!"

"Five minutes behind us."

One by one the victims were rushed out of the library, each strapped to their own gurney. Police officers rounded up the walking wounded and unharmed and gently ushered them out of the building. The building was cleared in under ten minutes, and tight knots of terrified students were left standing outside, giving statements to officers.

One of the students, seeing that Hathaway had taken control of the situation, jogged over to her.

"Excuse me, but is Dr. Carter OK?"

"What did you say?" Carol breathed, hoping she had misheard the question.

"Dr. Carter. He was tutoring us when the shooting started…" She faltered. "He helped us hide. I don't think we'de be alive if it wasn't for him."

Without responding Carol ran at breakneck speed back into the building.

"John! Carter! Dang you, Carter, answer me!"

She ran from room to room in the small library, calling his name. Then she saw it. A trail of blood, so much blood, beginning in the middle of the room and leading underneath a desk in the corner.

"Dang it, Carter! SHEP! We need a backboard in here!" Less than a minute later Shep came running in, carrying a backboard in one hand.

"Oh, $#!t."

Pulling Carter from beneath the desk as gently as possible, Carol felt his neck for a pulse. "It's thready, but it's there." She breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Let's get him on the board." Carol said as she gently slipped a neck brace beneath his head.

After getting Carter's unresponsive form into the waiting ambulance, Carol began her assessment.

"Two GSWs to the torso, one to the upper right, no exit, one to the lower left flank. Decreased breath sounds on the right." Carol listed off stats as if the young man on the gurney was any other patient, knowing that emotion would do more harm than good.

"Looks like he did a good job slowing down the bleeding. Think it hit his spine?" Shep asked, clearly concerned. It took a lot to concern Shep.

"Depends on the angle." Carol replied, trying not to dwell on the possibility.

Carol turned back to Carter's pale face, starting when she saw that his eyes were open.

"Carter, John, can you hear me?" His warm brown eyes, usually so full of life stared unfocused at the ceiling of the ambulance. After a second, he gave Carol and almost infinitesimal nod. "Good, John, good. Focus on my voice. Can you feel any pain?" The tiniest of shakes of his head. Suddenly, his eyes rolled up in his head, his body convulsing. "Dang it, he's seizing! Ativan, quickly! And get me a bite bock!" "Dang it, he's bitten the tip of his tongue clean off. We need to turn him before he suffocates on all this blood." Yelled Shep, the words somehow registering in Carol's shellshocked brain.

 _Hold on Carter._


	3. Chapter 3

Back at County:

"Hey everyone, we got a hot one!" Lydia yells from the radio, "Shooting at that school a few streets down - how many can we take?"

 _So much for my quiet day._

"Two majors, four minors, we still have to clear out the wedding party." Shouts Mark Green from down the hall, referring to the impromptu wedding reception currently being held in the waiting room.

"Hey, Benton? The balding man shouted down the hall to the other doctor, "Didn't Carter have that tutoring thing today?"

"Yeah, he did." Came the worried response.

"Well, I'm sure he's fine. Carter can take care of himself." Mark fought to keep the worried edge out of his voice.

"Alright, the first buses will be rolling up in three minutes. Everyone be ready! We've got three majors, four minors, the rest have been diverted to Mercy."

"Didn't I say two majors?" Mark asked, perplexed.

Apparently one of the paramedics insisted on coming here.

 _That can't be good._

Just then the ambulance bay doors are thrown open. "Give me the bullet!" Yells Mark, running alongside the gurney.

The next few minutes are a bustle of activity as the victims are assessed and treated, with two of the majors already up in the OR and the minors .. to various trauma rooms. A strange quiet falls over the ambulance bay where several of the doctors have returned, waiting for the fresh rush of activity they knew, from long experience, would soon arrive.

"Hey, where's that third major?" Mark shouts to Lydia.

"Pulling up right now, Mark."

Shep and Carol burst through the ambulance bay doors, pushing the gurney between them. "Aww, dang it Carter! Trauma one!" Mark exclaimed, "Somebody page Benton!"

"He's still in surgery Doctor Green."

"Well, page him anyway! Shep, give me the bullet."

"White male approximately 25 years of age, two GSWs to the torso, decreased breath sounds on the right…

"He's 26," Mark said quietly, barely hearing the rest of stats as Shep reeled them off. "Can I get a nurse in here please!"

Benton chose that moment to burst into the trauma room.

"$#!t, Carter. Is he conscious?"

"No, GCS is four. He was unconscious when we found him but came to briefly. He said he didn't feel any pain, and then started seizing." Carol said quietly, tears in her voice.

"Alright, Carol, Shep, you're done, we've got it from here. Mark, call up to the OR and let them know we're coming."

Shep pulls a stunned Carol through the trauma room door as two nurses run in.

"Carol, I'm sure he'll be fine. He's in good hands. The best hands." Shep said to the distraught nurse, trying to reassure her.

"I know." Came the whispered response.

"Let me take you home."

"No, I want to stay here."

Shep pats her on the back and heads back out to the rig, knowing that work was what he needed right now.

"He's stable, let's get him up to the OR!" Benton roared, already prepping Carter for transport.

"Stand back, Peter. You are not operating on this man and dang well know why! Now stand back and let me scrub in." A stern David Morgenstern addressed Benton outside the OR a few minutes later.

"I am operating on this man, and you know I am, so step aside and let me scrub in!"

Morgenstern relented, knowing that Benton wouldn't let this one go. They stepped in together and began to scrub in.

A few minutes in and both surgeons were already worried.

"Dang it, the liver's perfed."

"The bullet shattered on one of his ribs, I think the cord is shot. Can we get a spinal surgeon up here? I can't repair this."

"Yes, doctor Morgenstern." A nurse replied, walking swiftly from the room to make the call.

"He's coding! Dang it, don't do this to me! Starting compressions. I need a crash cart! And get me an amp of epi!"

Time passed slowly in the OR, each minute seeming to take days as surgeons and nurses alike

tried desperately to save the young life laid out before them.

"How long has he been down?"

"Forty minutes."

"Dang it John, we have put too much time an effort into you to lose you now. Give him another amp of epi, and charge paddles to 250. CLEAR!"

"No response."

"Go to 300! CLEAR! Holding compressions."

"Nothing Doctor."

Morgenstern looked at Benton's distraught face. "Peter, we've done everything we can. I'm calling it."

"$#!t!" roared the doctor, knocking a tray of instruments to the floor."

"Dangit! $#!+!"

"Time of death, 19:08."

Someone started sobbing.


End file.
